Non-refillable bottle.



J.YV.FERNANDEZ.'

NON-REFILLABLE BOTTLE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 5, 191s.

noewwf Patented Jan. 29, 1918. I

JOSE VIIIA FERNANDEZ, OF CAMPECHUELA, CUBA,

Y SOL, OF TRINIDAD, SANTA CLARA, CUBA.

NON-REFILLABLE BOTTLE;

Specification of Letters ZPatent.

Patented Jan. 29, 1918.

Application filed October 5, 1916. Serial No. 123,935.

To all whom it may concern Be .it known that I, J osii VILA FERNANDEZ, a subject of the King of Spain, residing at Cainpechuela, in the Province of Oriente, Cuba, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in N on-Refillable Bottles; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. i

This invention relates to improvements in non-refillable bottles, the primary object being to provide means which will positively preclude reuse of the bottle in any manner.

The secondary object is to provide a de- Vice of this character which is equipped with pneumatically controlled .means for preventing the refilling of the bottle by the use of pneumatic apparatus.

Still another object is to provide a simply constructed bottle which will be Very inexpensive to manufacture, yet which will be extremely eflicient in operation.

'lVith these and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed and shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 represents a central vertical section through a bottle constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the upper end of the bottle showing the parts arranged as they will appear when the contents of the bottle is being emptied therefrom;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are horizontal sections taken on the planes of the lines 33, 4 L, and 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a detail section showing how the parts will operate when it is attempted to extract the air from the empty bottle for the purpose of refilling it by pneumatic apparatus.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, it will be seen that the bottle 1 in which the non-refillable means is disposed has an enlarged neck 2, the latter being connected to the body 3 0f the bottle by a neck of ordinary size as shown at 4. At the unction of the enlarged and reduced necks 2 and 4; is provided with a shoulder which forms a valve seat 5 for cooperation with a valve which will later be described.

lVithin the enlarged portion 2 is disposed a stopper 6 in which is housed the operating means for preventing the refilling of the bottle. This stopper 6 is substantially cylindrical and has its bottom end open, the upper end thereof being closed by a top 7, the latter portion having a plurality of recesses 8 on its periphery to allow liquid to flow from the body of the bottle. This liquid enters the cavity of the stopper and flows therefrom through the outlets 9 in the Vertical wall thereof and into the recesses or grooves 10 provided in the inner face of v the neck 2, the upper ends of these grooves communicating with the recesses 8. It will be noted that the top 7 of the stopper is disposed below the top of the neck :2 so that a cork C of any preferred construction may be inserted to or transportation.

The stopper 6 may be locked within thev neck of the bottle by any preferred ea s as is usual in devices of the character.. In the present instance, both the bottom portion of the vertical wall of the stopper and the bottom portion of the neck 2 is annularly grooved as shown at 11 for the reception ofv a locking member 12. This member is in the form of a split collar which has its lower edge slashed and the fingers thus formed bent upwardly into the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. After the bottle has been filled with a suitable liquid and before the stopper 6 has been inserted in the neck thereof, "this locking member is disposed in the groove in the latter, the stopper then being forced into the neck 2 until its lower end engages the shoulder at the intersection of the necks 2 and 4:, whereupon the fingers of the locking member will spring into engagement with the groove in the bottom portion of the neck 2. This prevents the removal of the stop- WVithin the cavity of the stopper'ois disposed a pneumatically controlled valve member 13, the latter comprising a valve 14 for cooperative engagement with the valve seat 5, and a valve stem 15. The stem ispreferablyformed integrally with the valve 14 and is composed of two crossed ASSIGNOR TO MARIA nonnro nna close the bottle during storage blades 16 which have their inner ends cupped as shown at 17 to receive an operating ball 18. This ball normally lies at the bottom of the bottle 1, but when the same is inverted to empty the contents therefrom, the ball rolls into the seat formed at the cupped end 17. The upper end of the valve member has an air chamber 19 formed thereon, said chamber being in the form of a cylindrical open ended tube. The air chamber is closed by a plunger 20 which has a fluid-tight connection therewith, yet is slidable to a certain extent therein.

The valve member 13 is guided both by the stem 15 which is slidable in the reduced necks, and by the cylindrical air chamber 19, the latter being slidable in a guide sleeve 21 which depends from and is formed integrally with the inner face of the top 7 of the stopper. Also depending from the inner face of the top 7 and within the sleeve 21 is a boss 2-2 which has an expansion helical spring 28 attached thereto, the inner end of this spring engaging the closure 20, which, owing to its fiuidtight connection with the air chamber, will act against the air contained therein tending to compress ,the air and thereby force the valve normally into closed position.

The movable parts of the device are protected from tampering both by the upright cylindrical portion of the stopper 6 and the metallic guard shell 2% which is substantially cylindrical and is disposed within the cavity of the stopper. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that the liquid from the body of the bottle flows, when the latter is inverted and the valve 1st open, through the contracted neck iand into the interior of the guard shell 24:, from whence it flows by way of the notches 25 formed in its.

upper edge into the space betwen the outer wall of said guard shell and the inner wall of the stopper. From this space, it flows through the outlet ports 9, the grooves 10 and out through the recesses 8 in the top 7 to the receptacle.

As hereinbefore mentioned, Whenever the bottle is inverted, the ball 18 rolls into the seat 17 formed in the end of the valve stem, and thus overcoming the tension of the spring 23 causes the valve 14 to move away from its seat 5 thereby allowing the liquid to flow from the bottle. Should it be attempted 1o refill the bottle when the same is in its upright position, the liquid will be prevented from entering the body of the latter because the spring 23 bearing against the plunger of the air chamber causes the valve 14 to tightly engage the seat, the ball 18 being now at the bottom of the bottle where it is inoperative. It is equally obviou that it will be impossible to refill the bottle under ordinary conditions when the same is inverted.

Should it be attempted to refill the bottle by pumping out all of the air therein in order to create a vacuum, the air chamber in the valve member comes into operation. Under normal conditions, this part is largely inoperative because the air contained therein is under the same pressure as the outside air, thus the closure 20 will remain immovable. WVhen, however, the air is sucked from the bottle, the air within the chamber 19 tends to expand, and expanding in all directions equally will tend to force the closure outwardly as shown in Fig. 6. This equal expansion of the air within the chamher also exerts its force to raise the valve let into engagement with its seat, thereby preventing the entrance of any liquid. When the suction has been removed, the closure and the other parts will return to their normal positions. From the foregoing description, it is obvious that I have produced a bottle which it will be impossible to refill under all conditions.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a bottle; of a stopper disposed in the neck thereof and a pneumatically controlled valve in said stopper to prevent unauthorized refilling of the bottle.

2. The combination with a bottle; of a. stopper disposed in the neck thereof, a valve member movable in said stopper, and having a fluid chamber therein, a pneumatically controlled plunger slidable in said chamber, and means between said plunger and stopper to hold said valve normally closed.

3. The combination with a bottle; of a hollow stopper disposed in the neck thereof, a valve member movable in said stopper, a cylindrical fluid chamber carried by said member, one of the ends of said chamber being open, a sleeve extending from said stopper within the cavity and slidably engaging said chamber, a boss also extending from said stopper within said sleeve, a closure slidable in the open end of said chamber and having a fluid-tight engagement with the walls thereof, and an expansion spring secured to said boss and engaging said closure.

4. The combination with a bottle, of a cylindrical tubular stopper disposed in the neck thereof, said stopper being open at its inner and closed at its outer end, said stopper and the inner wall of the neck of said bottle having passageways, a sleeve extending inwardly from the closed end of said' sure in the open end of said chamber, and an expansion spring in said sleeve, said spring engaging said closure and the closed end of said stopper to hold said valve normally closed.

5. The combination with a bottle; of a stopper disposed in the neck thereof, a valve movable in said stopper, an air chamber in said valve, and a pneumatically operated member in said chamber to hold said valve closed under expansion of the air in said chamber.

6. The combination with a bottle, of a stationary stopper disposed in the neck thereof, a valve member movable in said Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the stopper, a valve formed on said member, said member having an air chamber therein, a pneumatically controlled plunger slidable in one end of said chamber and in fluid tight engagement with the Walls thereof, and a spring between said stopper and closure to compress the fluid in said chamber and hold said valve closed.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J OSE VILA FERNANDEZ.

Witnesses:

MANUEL INFANTE, TEODORO B. OARAGOL.

Commissioner of latenta,

Washington, D. G. 

